SANDYCREEK TWP., Pa. (EYT) — A Franklin couple whose toddler suffered an unexplained broken leg are due in court on Wednesday for a hearing on child endangerment charges.

Court documents indicate 44-year-old Michael Paul Rice and 35-year-old Shannan Renee Moorehead are scheduled to stand for preliminary hearings in front of Magisterial District Judge Matthew T. Kirtland at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 21.

They each face one third-degree felony count of child endangerment.

They are currently free on $15,000.00 each unsecured bail.

The charges stem from an investigation into how a toddler ended up with a broken leg earlier this year.

Details of the case:

According to a criminal complaint, around 9:12 a.m. on March 5, Franklin-based State Police were notified by Venango County Children and Youth Services (CYS) about an incident that took place at a location on Tingley Lane in Sandycreek Township, Venango County.

Initial Discovery

Initially, it was discovered that the juvenile victim, a 20-month old toddler, was taken to UPMC Urgent Care, by his parents Michael Paul Rice and Shannan Renee Moorehead and was running a fever of 102.8, which was the reason for the visit. The staff at the Urgent Care discovered the victim’s left leg was red, bruised, and swollen, and they advised Rice and Moorehead to take the child to UPMC Northwest Hospital, the complaint states.

At the hospital, the victim was diagnosed with a mildly displaced left oblique femur fracture and was then transported to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, according to the complaint.

The following details were provided by a doctor at Children’s Hospital:

Rice and Moorehead allegedly told the doctor the victim awoke from sleep, screaming around 5:00 a.m. on March 4, and Moorehead said when she picked the victim up, he felt warm, so she took his temperature and found it was 102.8 degrees. She then gave the victim Motrin and Tylenol for the fever, and he briefly fell back asleep while she was holding him, but she wasn’t able to get him back to sleep in his crib. She also said she noticed him developing hives and was concerned he may be having an allergic reaction to something.

Moorehead allegedly told the doctor the victim continued to be “clingy” and fussy through the morning and seemed to want to be held. She reported she called his pediatrician to see if he could be seen there, but they were not able to see the victim that day. Rice then took the victim to the Urgent Care Center at 11:30 p.m. where the issue with the victim’s leg was discovered.

Rice took the child home briefly to get Moorehead after they were referred to UPMC Northwest where the victim had x-rays of his left leg completed. Rice and Moorehead allegedly told the doctor at Children’s Hospital that they were initially told the x-rays were normal, and the victim was discharged. They said they received a call a short time later asking them to return as the x-rays showed the victim’s leg was broken. The victim was then transferred to Children’s Hospital, the complaint states.

According to the complaint, the doctor reviewed Rice and Moorehead’s recent history, and both parents were allegedly home in the afternoon and evening of March 3, and both said the child appeared normal at that time. They reported he was put to bed around 9:00 p.m. and slept overnight without waking until 5:00 a.m. when he woke up screaming.

Neither parent noted anything was wrong with the victim’s leg until the providers at the Urgent Care recognized it. From when the victim woke up at 5 a.m. until they went to Urgent Care around 11:30, the victim did not put any weight on his legs as one of the parents was essentially holding him all morning due to him being “clingy” and sick, according to the complaint.

Rice said he changed the victim out of his sleep pajamas, changed his diaper, and put on new pants. He said the victim was crying during the change but said they thought it was due to his constipation, the complaint notes.

Both parents allegedly said they didn’t notice any discomfort with being held in certain positions.

The victim has no known history of trauma and no prior fracture, and neither parent had ever been concerned that the victim bruised easier than other children.

Doctor’s Analysis

The doctor’s impression of the incident is that the victim’s fracture is the result of trauma. Though there are accidental ways a child of this age could sustain this injury, no history of trauma was provided, and the child would have had substantial pain at the time of the injury occurring and would not have walked afterward. The history given that the child went to bed fine the previous night then woke up the next morning in his crib with the fracture without an adult knowing what had happened is not plausible, and given the lack of accidental history to explain the injury, the doctor believes the child’s presentation is highly concerning for the possibility of physical child abuse, according to the complaint.

Interviews with Moorehead

Moorehead was interviewed on March 29.

According to the complaint, when asked about the incident, she reported the victim was dancing and running around the house prior to going to bed around 9:00 p.m. on March 3. She said the victim woke up screaming around 5:30 a.m. the next morning, and she found him in his crib lying on his right side.

She stated her theory was the victim broke his femur by getting this leg stuck or jammed between the wooden slats on the crib, the complaint states.

When asked how long it took her to get into his room after she heard him crying in the morning, she initially stated “three seconds.” When asked if she believed he had gotten his leg stuck, broke it, and got it back out before she entered the room, she said, “that’s my theory,” according to the complaint.

Moorehead was then interviewed again on June 16.

According to the complaint, during the interview, she told police she sometimes didn’t trust Rice with watching the victim while she was at work and stated that Rice had told her he “accidentally shut the door” on the victim’s leg a couple of days before they went to the hospital, sometime around March 1.

Moorehead reported that Rice drinks every day, including when he is at home watching the victim. She stated there had been times Rice forgot to pick her up from work due to being intoxicated. She also noted that when she got home the day the door was slammed on the victim’s leg, Rice was drunk. She reported he was drinking some kind of liquor, possibly vodka. She also told police she has had her sister watch the victim in the past because Rice is intoxicated so often, the complaint indicates.

Moorehead stated that Rice told her that after the victim’s leg got shut in the door, the victim began to cry, and Rice then watched a movie with the victim to calm him down. Moorehead said the incident happened at the door to the victim’s room.

The complaint also states that Moorehead maintained she truly believed the morning of March 4 is when the victim injured his leg while in his crib.

During the interview, Moorehead allegedly said it didn’t occur to her that Rice slamming the door on the victim’s leg caused the break. However, the complaint notes that when she was asked earlier in the interview if Rice caused the victim’s leg to break in the door, she tentatively said “yes,” but said she did not come up with her original statement to cover for Rice.

Moorehead was also questioned about a statement she made to a CYS employee concerning a bath she gave the victim. Moorehead said the day the victim got his leg slammed in the door, she gave him a bath and observed the victim’s leg was swollen. However, during Moorehead’s original interview, she was asked about her interview with the CYS employee, she reportedly said: “No! That never happened. I never gave him a bath on this day.” Then, when asked about noticing any recent injury while giving the victim a bath, she said: “No. I never said anything,” and claimed to not remember mentioning a bath, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, it became clear that Moorehead was lying in the initial interview.

Interview with Rice

Rice was interviewed on August 12.

According to the complaint, Rice has had two DUI’s in the past and had a suspended license at the time of the interview. Rice told police he had gone to rehab to detox, but it “wasn’t quite good enough” for him. He related he was a “heavy drinker” for approximately a year, and prior to that a social drinker, and said he drank daily.

When asked about the incident and Moorehead’s theory about what happened, Rice said Moorehead was “emotional” on the day she was interviewed.

Police asked Rice if he knew how the victim was injured, Rice reportedly stated: “I honestly wish I knew. I have a lot of disgruntlement with hospitals and doctors with everything going on right now.”

Rice reported that on the night of March 3, he picked up Moorehead after work, then they went home, and Moorehead made the victim a pancake. Then they had a typical family dance party because the victim likes to dance, and the victim was then put to bed around 9:00 p.m., according to the complaint.

Rice told police he was not drinking that day. He initially told police, “If I have my son, I don’t drink,” but then later stated, “It’s possible I had a drink or two, but I don’t remember,” according to the complaint.

Rice told police he went to bed early because he was tired from work, and said he remembered Moorehead getting up around 6:00 a.m. the next morning and going into the victim’s room. He noted he remembered the victim screaming like he was in pain and that Moorehead told him the victim was running a fever. He thought Moorehead gave the victim Tylenol or Motrin, according to the complaint.

The complaint states that Rice said he then went back to sleep and didn’t hear the victim screaming after that. However, he noted that when he woke up, he noticed the victim was acting lethargic and said: “something didn’t seem right.” He then told Moorehead he wanted to take the victim to Urgent Care. He noted the victim seemed warm and didn’t want to eat or be put down, and he thought the victim was constipated.

According to the complaint, Rice reported after he took the victim to Urgent Care, a nurse asked him to put him down, and he noticed the victim was favoring his leg. He said he then pulled the victim’s pants down and saw his left knee was red and swollen. The nurse then advised him to take the victim to UPMC Northwest Hospital for evaluation.

Rice told police he picked Moorehead up and then proceeded to the hospital, where x-rays of the victim’s leg were taken. When asked if the victim was screaming while being examined, Rice said he fussed but didn’t cry and also related the victim had never woken up in the morning screaming like this before but did cry on occasion.

The complaint notes Rice told police that he and Moorehead had discussed what happened and had a theory that the victim “must have gotten hurt in his crib, possibly getting this leg stuck between the slats.” He noted when they told the staff what they believed, everyone was skeptical.

When asked if he remembered any time when the victim cold have sustained this injury in the past, Rice stated: “I can’t say that I do.”

According to the complaint, when police pointed out that their theory about getting stuck in the crib slats wasn’t plausible, Rice finally agreed and stated: “I believe whatever happened to my son was an accident, but I don’t know how it happened.”

The complaint states Rice also told police that UPMC advised him that it would take 40 to 50 pounds of pressure to cause the specific type of break, and stated, “I am not going to say there isn’t a possibility something else could have happened, I just don’t remember something else happening.”

Rice was then asked if he thought it was possible it happened the way Moorehead explained it, with him slamming his son’s leg in the door, but he said he couldn’t remember, then reportedly said: “yes.”

At that time, the trooper performing the interview believed Rice knew what happened and wanted to say so, the complaint notes.

According to the complaint, Rice kept indicating he was frustrated with the case as well as Moorehead. The trooper then told Rice he believed Moorehead was telling the truth, and Rice reportedly stated that Moorehead drinks as much as he does.

The complaint notes Rice was “avoiding sensitive questions and pushing blame on Moorehead.” Rice was then asked about his reaction to Moorehead telling them about him slamming his son’s leg in the door, and told police he didn’t remember doing that. He reported he remembered the victim’s leg getting shut in the door once, but it was in 2019.

According to the complaint, Rice stated: “I’m just frustrated with this I don’t know what happened,” and continued to deny hurting the victim’s leg. However, he did admit that he and Moorehead were the only two people with access to the victim at the time he sustained the injury.

Both Rice and Moorehead were arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Matthew T. Kirtland at 10:20 a.m. on Thursday, October 8.